Spirit of Fire
by M.E.S109
Summary: In 2531 the UNSC Spirit of Fire, one of the largest ships ever commissioned in the early days of the war, simply disappeared. Some say that the Captain gave up on the war, while others believe that he was pursuing a great threat. No one knew what really happened, until now.


**Chapter 1**

**Date:** February 4th, 2531  
**System:** Epsilon Indi  
**Planet:** Harvest  
**Location:** Quadrant 4, somewhere near Alpha Base  
**Objective:** Recon enemy forces

Sergeant John Forge, his M90 close assault weapon system slung firmly over his back, pulled his high powered binoculars from his waist and raised them to his eyes. Great gusts of wind, filled with snow, regularly assaulted his shivering form as he lay concealed in a poorly sheltered nook, which was itself located near the top of a massive ice shelf that overlooked a set of ancient, yet advanced, ruins.  
Legions of Grunts, the covenant's canon fodder, swarmed in and out of the ruin's arch-like entrance. Elites stood guard at regular intervals, overseeing and coordinating whatever operation it was that was being run.  
"Well well well," Forge mumbled to himself, scanning the hive of activity below him "what have we here."  
A purple phantom glided into his view, its hull gleaming in the dull light. An Elite dropped out of its underbelly and landed in the snow below, its form massive and menacing. It strode forwards, Grunts and Elites stepping out of its way in fear and respect.  
"Huh," Forge said, continuing to speak to himself "you are one big split-mouth. What are you doing all the way out here?"  
The Elite was speaking to another, gold clad Elite of obvious lesser rank. They were conversing in what Forge assumed to be low grunts and growls when Forge decided to get a better look. He twisted the rim of his binoculars and the big Elite's form became even larger, though somewhat less clear.  
Forge narrowed his eyes as he took in the Elite's grey, plate like armour and that was when the Elite turned around and glared straight at Forge, as though it knew it was being watched. Forge hastily crawled backwards, away from the lip of the shelf and radioed his commanding officer.  
"Sergeant Forge, report." Came Captain Cutter's voice.  
"Definitely plenty of bad guys down here sir," Forge replied, clipping the binocs back onto his belt "looks like they found something in the ice."  
"Dammit," Cutter swore, his voice emanating from Forge's ear piece "that complicates things. Anders, what have you got?"  
Anders was a civilian scientist that had joined them several weeks prior to their reassignment to Harvest. She was a headstrong women who constantly disregarded Forge's thoughts on her safety, something which both endeared him towards her and antagonised him at the same time.  
"Captain, scans on the Northern Polar region shows some interesting Covenant activity on the surface." Anders replied, as Forge lay listening in the snow "There's some kind of structure down there."  
Forge shifted his weight and readjusted his position so that he was sitting instead of lying and consequently missed out on part of the conversation.  
"Forge I'm sending you some new objectives," Cutter ordered "you are to pull back to Alpha Base and get it under control, we're going to send you back up once you've recaptured it and get it back up to operational status."  
"I'll get it done sir." Forge acknowledged, his hand pressed to his ear so that he could hear.  
"I'll get my equipment ready." Anders added.  
"Lady, there's no way you are coming down here on the first bird." Forge cut in.  
He didn't like babysitting civilians, especially ones that didn't listen to him.  
"Forge you have your orders," Cutter said, breaking up the argument before it could start "get Alpha Base under control, I'm sending you some backup."  
"Roger that," Forge grumbled "Forge out."  
Forge unslung his shotgun and grasped it with both hands before setting off back the way he had come. He jogged down the back of the ice shelf, sometimes jumping from outcropping to outcropping when the way became to steep and finally arrived back at his Warthog after ten minutes.  
Private Papadakis, a young Greek man of twenty one years whom Forge simply referred to as Pad, sat in the passenger seat, looking very nervous. An accompanying marine of the name Jeong manned the turret and he swung it round to bear on Forge as he approached.  
"Easy boys, it's just me." Forge said, sliding into the drivers seat "We've got a new objective."  
"Geez sarge you scared the crap out of me." Pad said, as Forge brought the Warthog's engine to life "Thought you were an Elite or something."  
"What did you see?" Jeong asked, as they drove over a long abandoned road towards Alpha Base "And what's our next move?"  
"The Captain wants us to secure Alpha Base," Forge replied, shouting to be heard over the roar of the engine "then we're going to assault the Forerunner Ruins on the other side of the ice shelf."  
"Alpha Base?" Pad said, his expression incredulous "The Covenant are pounding it, and they own everything east of the ice shelf. How the hell are we supposed to take them on?!"  
"Relax private," Forge said, as Jeong scoured the passing surroundings with his turret "we'll get it done. Captain Cutter will send down reinforcements as soon as we secure Alpha Base."

The sounds of people fighting and dying reached them long before they reached it. Forge gunned the engine as soon as he heard it, driving them over a massive jump and landing them safely on the ground below it.  
He swung the Warthog to his left, driving through a narrow pass and shouted out orders to his passengers as they neared the base.  
"Pad," he yelled, as the pass widened "I need you to call out targets and threats, make sure I'm not driving blind."  
"Got it sir." Pad relied, cocking his rifle.  
Forge would need to focus all his attention on driving and so would be relying on Pad to call out a safe pass through the chaos, while also calling out targets to Jeong.  
"Jeong, your job's simple." Forge continued, as Alpha Base came into view "Gun em down."  
Forge pushed the acceleration pedal as far as it would go and the Warthog lurched forwards, off of the small cliff they were on and onto the ground below.  
Alpha Base consisted of four main structures, all located within a large, circular depression in the iced wasteland. The first building was a large metal HQ dug into the left side of the depression, a standard issue barracks directly opposite it and to the north, sealing off the ravines' opening was a large wall.  
The fourth building was a watchtower, situated behind the wall, and it had taken a hell of a beating. Its upper half had been bombarded by hundreds of plasma shells and was now nothing more then a smoking, sizzling ruin.  
The wall hadn't fared much better either, its twin gates lay smashed and ruined on the ground, their surfaces burnt and charred. Lying just within the walls was a Covenant Wraith, though its chassis had taken several hits from rockets and it now lay smouldering in the centre of the battlefield.  
The UNSC forces, several squads of marines, were spread out near the HQ, seeking what little cover they could from the onslaught of lethal plasma being fired at them by the Covenant squads that were advancing towards them.  
Forge aimed the bonnet of the Warthog towards the Wraith and accelerated straight down the middle of the battlefield, cutting a line between the two forces.  
Pad's voice barked regularly in Forge's ear, falling out targets and areas to avoid. Jeong's gun roared to life and three Grunt's fell to the ground, their luminescent blood staining the snow around them.  
A plasma bolt slammed into the Warthog's chasis, narrowly missing Pad's head and Jeong quickly gunned down the Elite responsible, scattering its squad and maiming its corpse with bullets.  
Forge hit the brakes and drifted around the remains of the Wraith, leaving streaks behind them in the snow. The Warthog cleared the Wraith and Jeong's gun found the enemy once again.  
Two more Elites were cut down, along with at least seven Grunts. The Warthog took several more hits in return, one of them struck the engine block, dissolving through the hood and the Warthog slowed considerably.  
"Ah crap!" Forge yelled, as the Warthog began to die "Jeong, hold em off."  
"You got it sir!" Jeong replied, continuing to fire off lethal rounds by the hundreds "They're starting to- Ungh!"  
A blue bolt of plasma slammed into Jeong's chest, knocking him off of the Warthog.  
"Jeong!" Pad yelled, leaning out of his seat.  
Jeong's body hit the ground and rolled to a stop. He didn't get up.  
"Leave it!" Forge yelled, he knew there was no helping his gunner.  
He swung the sputtering Warthog back around to face the Covenant and saw that they were retreating back through the destroyed gates. Most of the Elites were dead and the remaining ones were busy ordering a retreat.  
Forge let them go as the Warthog finally died and rolled to a slow stop. The lat of the Covenant forces disappeared through the gate and suddenly everything was quiet. Pad jumped out of the car and sprinted over to Jeong's lifeless body, while Forge stepped out and approached the marines.  
"Thank god you guys got here when you did." Said a marine, emerging from behind a wrecked Warthog.  
The other marines, sixteen of them, were busy pulling off their helmets and sighing with relief.  
"A minute longer and we would have been done for." The marine continued, he didn't bother to ask about Jeong.  
"Happy to help." Forge replied, setting off towards the HQ "What's the situation here?"  
"Thirty-five dead and numerous structural damages." The marine said, relaying the details of the battle to Forge "Sir we getting reinforcements?"  
"Yeah," Forge said, as Pad began to converse with some marines "we've got new objectives too. We're going to fix this base up, then go kick the Covenant's ass."  
"Sir?" The marine asked, his tone surprised "We just got our ass kicked. How the hell are we going to take on the Covenant in this state? Sixteen shell shocked marines and a destroyed Warthog aren't going to make much of a dent."  
"Marine, relax." Forge said, putting a hand on the marines shoulder and giving him a reassuring smile "Those reinforcements I was talking about, are just arriving."  
The marine came to a stop and looked towards the sky. Six heavy duty pelicans, carrying supplies and men were soaring towards them.


End file.
